Mr Turkey, meet Mr Exercise

I don't know about you, but I think I ate my weight in turkey dinner, and dessert. Honestly, what is better than the holidays for good food and drink? We all know we'll probably put on a few pounds in the next month, but what can you do about it now that winter has started? It's not easy to brave the cold and step outside.

I just started running a few months ago, just as the heat of summer ended, and now I'm hooked. I want to keep running into spring so I can keep in shape and be ready to run some 5k's, but some days it's just too cold. Luckily, the DMU Wellness center has great hours, and is open most days except certain holidays. They have amazing facilities, many weight and aerobic machines, and it is free to students and their significant others! Check the DMU Portal for the Plus One membership and Wellness center hours.

Are you into racquet sports? You might checkout Oakmoor Fitness for racquetball or Seven Flags for tennis. Both offer membership plans for those activities. I've played tennis at Seven Flags and their courts are excellent.

Do you feel the need to compete in the winter, but can‟t find an event? Try the 801 Grand Power Climb. Racers will climb all 41 flights of stairs to raise money and awareness for the American Lung Association. DMU students often provide OMM services.

If you‟re not much of a gym person, there are other options. Downtown Des Moines has a great Skywalk system that connects most major buildings. You can walk from Court Ave Brewing company (great food) to Hyvee Hall without going outside! How about just pure fun that will raise your heart rate? Try Incredible Pizza in Urbandale or All Play in Des Moines. Both offer different options like bumper cars, go carts, laser tag, video games, and mini golf.

Don‟t even bother trying to avoid the temptation of one more holiday cookie. Go ahead and eat it, and plan your January exercise routine. There are many options

Gateway to the West

Ok, perhaps my themes are quite one sided lately. Yes, it is cold outside now, so all we can think about is the warmth. I know many of you are from warmer climates, so I‟m trying to help you make it through the long Des Moines winter. Just 5 hours to the southeast of us is St Louis, MO. I never would have thought 5 hours would make such a climactic difference, but it sure does. They don't seem to get nearly as much snow or cold weather as Des Moines. So if you are looking for a good escape some weekend, this is a good option. Being a much larger town, it has much more to offer than Des Moines, and also has a few more dangers (so please be careful there!). They have world class museums: Contemporary Art Museum, Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. They have amazing architecture like the Cathedral Basilica and the Gateway Arch. They have interestingly unique items like the City Museum, which is a museum made from recycle garbage that allows adults to crawl through life sized art like your 5 year old would. It has more concert, play, and opera offerings than we typically enjoy here. Anheuser-Busch is based there, and you can tour the factory or visit the world-famous Clydesdales. There's much to do, too much too list, so just google it and go have fun. Just keep this in mind: Average high in Des Moines for January is 29 degrees, while in St Louis that average is 38 degrees!

Fong's Pizza

Fong’s Pizza is a great little pizza joint in downtown Des Moines, across from other gems like Java Joe‟s and Vaudeville Mews. Built on the previous location of Des Moines‟ oldest Chinese restaurant, this Tiki bar offers unique pizza by the slice. Don‟t forget to ask how you can get to wear the Soviet era helmets!

Shopping bag fundraiser

We've been running a fundraiser, selling these excellent bags that one of our board members found that can take the place of all your reusable grocery bags that you might get at the local Hyvee or Dahls. Perhaps you've seen a commercial for these? What makes these bags excellent is that you only need 2 of them to fill your cart, they clip on to the side of the cart so they don't move, and they fold up into a small size for easy stowing in your car for your next trip to the store! One of our members tried them out, and they were the envy of the grocery store. These are of higher quality material than the typical reusable bag, therefore you should get more duration out them.

These feature a nice DMU SOS logo, and the proceeds go directly to the SOS organization to help us fund activities for the members. You might have seen us selling them on campus. Well because of the holiday, we have had to take this offline. But if you would still like a bag or 2, then please feel free to contact Sandy Kavanagh between December 18th - January 4th at s.kavanagh@mchsi.com or (515) 270-8377. The prices are $10 each, or $6.50 for DMU SOS paid members.

Adopt a Family Success!

For a service project this holiday season the SOS adopted a family in need through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program of Iowa. Members from the SOS were able to choose gifts to purchase from the family's wishlist to help them have a Merry Christmas!

Through all of the cash donations and gift donations...(as you can see in this picture) I believe this family will have an excellent Christmas!

Thanks to everyone for your generosity and help! It is amazing how a lot of working together can really make a big difference!

"The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas." ~ W. C. Jones

10 on the Tenth of November...

Just thought I would mention 10 (alright more than 10) subgroups you can join to further your experience here while your Significant Other is at DMU!
Also if you see this before the meeting tonight...we are meeting in the CPMS classroom right by the bookstore at 6:30pm!
So here are the subgroups along with the leaders...if you would like more info please leave a comment and we will get back to you.

1) Men's Club -- Michael Drnec
2) After 5 -- Michael Drnec
3) Tennis Club -- Michael Drnec
4) Book Club -- Natalie Palmer
5) Knitting Club -- Sandy Kavanagh
6) Day Trippers -- Sandy Kavanagh
7) Playgroup -- Stephanie Peterson
8) Intramurals -- Chelsea Swanson
9) Cooking Club -- Darcie Bubloz
10) Game Night -- Megan Simonson
11) Fantasy Sports -- Katrina Rapp
12) Photography Club -- Katrina Rapp
13 Craft Club -- Christia Palizzi

See I told you there were more than 10! You can easily join one today at the meeting! I believe that we are actually going to have some more talking about what our different sub-groups have to offer today.

DMU Kiddie Halloween Party!

Here are some pictures from the DMU Kiddie Halloween Party. We hope that you had a great time with other DMU families.
If your family member made one of the pictures...and would like to let us know who it was then please leave a comment.
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Photo #2 (Stephanie & Her son the Lion)

















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Photo #5 Little Luigi --Christia's Son






















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Thanks Parents for all the great costumes and Thanks DMU for providing a place that is safe to have fun and out of the rain!